GARDEN GROVE The Crystal Cathedral is working on a “cash flow only” basis with enough money to cover expenses through June, but attendance and donations are increasing and leaders are looking toward a new beginning for the troubled ministry, leaders say.

The second chapter of the bankrupt church will likely include a move to St. Callistus Catholic Church, CEO and President John Charles told hundreds of congregants gathered for a meeting Wednesday night.

“(We can) move somewhere that for the first year is rent free. Can you beat that?” Charles said.

Currently, the ministry is paying $115,000 per month for rent to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, which bought the campus in a court-ordered sale in February.

The move would likely come next year as cathedral leaders need to give the Catholic Diocese six months notice.

“I’m not making an exit plan. I’m making a move plan,” Charles said. One that congregants can make “with our heads held high,” he added.

Finances are so tight, Charles told the audience, that before any debt is paid, “I look at the checkbook to make sure it can be covered.”

He projects that he will run out of cash at the end of June.

But the ministry is not accruing any new debt, is current on its rent and bills and does not plan to take out any bank loans, he said. For now, he said, there is no budget. Instead, he said he’s working on a three-month basis.

While church leaders painted a bleak financial picture, they also spoke optimistically about the future.

With a new format in services, increased attendance, an up-tick in donations and other changes in the works, “the sky is the limit,” Charles told the membership.

Pastor Bobby Schuller, the grandson of founder Robert H. Schuller, attended the meeting. He has been named as the guest teaching pastor who will give the Sunday morning sermon to be rebroadcast across the world in the Hour of Power television program.

In the past month, the younger Schuller has given the Sunday early morning service twice before running to his own nearby Tree of Life church to share a message. The cathedral’s finances, he said, reflect “how Americans are living right now.”

Schuller called Wednesday’s presentation honest.

“It was one of the most transparent, positive meetings I’ve been to at a church,” he said.

While many welcomed the younger Schuller’s return to the church with their applause Wednesday, the relationship between the ministry and the Schuller family has been a rocky one in the recent past. The founding members separated from the ministry last month and are embroiled in litigation over intellectual property rights.

All the congregants’ questions were submitted prior to the meeting. Some asked about the elder Schullers and whether they had the keys to the campus.

“We’re not a Gestapo. I’m not going to escort them out,” Charles said. “They built this campus. They deserve to walk here.”

Earlier, Charles paid tribute to Robert H. Schuller: “We’re all here because of him.”

Attendance and offerings have increased since March, leaders said, after Senior Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman abruptly announced she was leaving the cathedral and taking congregants to another location. About 100 congregants followed her first to a movie theater and then a hotel. The remainder of the congregation saw a return of traditional style of sermons and music to the Crystal Cathedral. And many congregants who had left the church returned for the traditional services.

Charles said he’s banking on the increased attendance to boost revenue.

The main hall of St. Callistus Catholic Church in Garden Grove. This may become the future home of the Crystal Cathedral ministry. JOSHUA SUDOCK, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The Crystal Cathedral can be seen from the parking lot of St. Callistus Catholic Church in Garden Grove. JOSHUA SUDOCK, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
John Charles, center, chairman of the Crystal Cathedral board, arrive for a morning service with the Crystal Cathedral's interim pastor, Lawrence Wilkes. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
St. Callistus Catholic Church in Garden Grove. JOSHUA SUDOCK, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Crystal Cathedral's interim pastor, John Lawrence delivered a message of new beginnings at a recent Sunday service. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Crystal Cathedral's interim pastor, John Lawrence, greets visitors at a March service after Sheila Schuller's departure. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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